Donegal House and attached railings

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 15/02/2018

SK1109SE 1094-1/8/61

LICHFIELD BORE STREET (south east side) Donegal House and attached railings

(Formerly listed as Donegal House (Tourist Information Centre) and attached railings)

05/02/52

GV II* House, now council offices. 1730. Possibly by Francis Smith of Warwick. For James Robinson. Brick with stucco and ashlar dressings; parapeted roof with brick stacks. Double-depth plan. Early Georgian style.

Three storeys with basement; symmetrical five-window range. Plaster plinth with ground floor sill band; end Doric pilasters with triglyph entablature blocks; top cornice and stone-coped brick parapet with plaster terminals and five sections which break forward over windows. Entrance has aedicule with attached Doric columns, entablature and segmental pediment, and eight-fielded panel (two glazed) door up steps with plain iron handrails. basement has segmental-headed windows with keys; other windows have shaped lintels with keys, those to ground floor over 6/9-pane sashes, those to upper floors with sills and aprons, 6/9-pane sashes to first floor, segmental-headed windows with twelve-pane sashes to second floor; central first floor window has eared and shouldered architrave with triglyph 'key', frieze and pediment, window above has similar architrave with shaped top and key.

Iron area railings to left have decorative heads; 1928 clock on enriched brackets to left. Rear has cogged brick frieze with datestone just below; varied fenestration, ground floor has pegged cross casement, some 6/9-pane sashes and round-headed stair window with small-paned sash.

INTERIOR: inaccessible due to refurbishment (1990), but has open-well staircase with slender turned balusters; panelled rooms and window shutters.

The house was used by the Marquess and Earl of Donegal, who lived at Fisherwick Hall from 1761 until his death in 1799. In 1910 the house was bought to serve as an extension to the Guildhall.

Listing NGR: SK1177609485